TCSS 371A     Computer Organization     Home Page
                                        Autumn 2005

Text:            

  introduction to computing systems,
   from bits & gates to C & beyond

Course:      

TCSS 371 Machine Organization Catalog Course Description:
Develops the hardware basis for computing systems and relationship between hardware and software.
Covers number representations, digital logic, machine organization, instruction set architecture, and
assembly language. Includes an introduction to high-level languages and the translation of such a
language into machine instructions.
Prerequisites: College-level physics, TCSS 142. Credit Hours: 5

TCSS371 provides a look under the hood of digital computers, with a motivation to make you a
stronger programmer, and provides foundations for software/hardware systems design.
It provides:
  • An introduction to the basic hardware and organization of computers,
  • An understanding of the relationship between hardware and software,
  • An appreciation and insight into the power, constraints, and options that support robust and
    efficient computing system design, and
  • An introduction to the foundations for embedded computing.

Primary Course Goals:
  1. Knowledge of fundamental computer organization (CPU, Bus, Memory and I/O) and Instruction Set
      Architecture.
  2. Knowledge of digital logic related to implementation of the above.
  3. Understanding of the basic machine cycles, computational operations, and timing.
  4. Ability to write small programs and function modules in native assembly language.
  5. Understanding of how high-level programs (we will use C) are executed, and how programs can be
      created through programming at optimal levels.

Professor:  

Larry A. Crum, Professor of Computing & Software Systems
Institute of Technology
University of Washington, Tacoma
Box 358426
Tacoma, WA  98402